No one in the real estate industry will tell you exactly what will happen to the housing values, but if you make the right choice in buying a house wherein it meets your priorities and needs, you won’t be having headaches in the future years to come.

Home or Neighborhood Amenities

There are some homebuyers wherein they prioritize living in a particular neighborhood over any other priorities. Others, the home matters to them. You will be able to find the perfect home right in the neighborhood that you love at a price that is well within or below the budget that you have set. But when you take a look at it realistically, most buyers take compromises if they want to have the house that badly.

Whether you are living on your own or buying the house with your partner, spouse or the entire family, it is a must that you make a list of features that you want to see from your house. For example, you want to specify how many rooms you want – whether you want a master bedroom, a room exclusive for guests, a kitchen, fenced yard, granite counters for your kitchen, etc. Rank your features according to priorities. You should also think about whether the community or the house matters more to you and whether it is worth it to make the long commute so that you can live in the home that has a bigger lot.

When must you compromise?

Once you have determined whether the house or the location itself matters to you the most, there might be times that you need to compromise a couple of the priorities you have. If location is the most important factor to you in determining your decision to buy the house, yet you find the homes are way priced over your budget, here are some ways that you can compromise:

l Find a different type of home within the location or community that you are interested in, like a smaller home for single families, a condo unit or a townhouse. Decide whether you can live in a house with one less room or any other features taken out from your list.

l You will find clarity by consulting with a financial planner or lender wherein you get to discuss your options for increasing your budget. There is rarely anyone that is willing to overspend for buying a home; you should also acknowledge that going $10,000 beyond the price range when you are financing the purchase within the 30-year loan at a fixed rate will only add about $30 in your monthly payment.

l You might want to consider lowering your expectations in regards to the condition of your home. While every buyer prefers to go for a home that is move-in ready, sometimes you can get a better deal with a home that requires a few visual repairs. However, you need to be careful with this part. To avoid getting the wrong home with too many repairs to do, hire a home inspector and let them evaluate the house’s structure to see whether or not it meets your needs. Adding one more bathroom and moving the walls can be very costly renovations while replacing the appliances and doing some repainting jobs are the more reasonable moves.

If you have already set your heart on a particular home style or one that has a bigger yard for the children or one wherein you get to have a garden, the compromise you make here is more likely the location itself.

Once you have your home, you’ll want to have a nice solid list of reliable repair people as problems will occur. If you ever run into issues, take a look for an emergency plumber near you to get problems quickly resolved.